Season 5, Episode CI: Future Forward
by Psycho G
Summary: In this life or death act, all of Jack's allies and friends around the world have joined forces and banded together in their declaration of war against Aku. In this decisive final war against Aku, will Jack stand his ground and fight, or will he still choose to travel back to the past, believing that time traveling to the past is the answer that will fix everything? (Jack/Ashi)
1. Chapter One: The Unchanging Time

**Chapter One: The Unchanging Timeline**

* * *

 **Here's my fanfiction reboot on Season 5, Episode 10, a.k.a. Episode CI.**

* * *

Aku had broadcasted to the whole world that he captured and imprisoned Samurai Jack. During his bragging and broadcasting, he stated that in one week's time, he planned to televise Jack's brutal execution by his daughter's hands as a warning to all who dares to oppose and defy him. Ashi, the revealed daughter of Aku, was currently in her four-horned black female form and likeness of Aku.

Days before the scheduled execution though, Jack was being tortured and beaten by Ashi, Aku's daughter, the woman he loved, who was under Aku's control and dark influence. Aku would sit back and watch his daughter torture and beat Jack for his sick and twisted amusement. During all this, Jack pleaded and begged Ashi to remember who she was and to fight against Aku's control over her mind and body. But sadly, during all his days of suffering and brutal mistreatments, his words didn't seem to reach her ears and heart as she would continue to inflict wounds on him.

* * *

(Meanwhile)

During the days that passed since Aku's global broadcasting, The Scotsman and his daughters made a worldwide campaign to all of Samurai Jack's friends and allies to come together for an all-out attack against Aku and to rescue Jack. They had gotten the call out to everyone to unite and join forces. All of Jack's allies and friends who watched the broadcast had the intentions of joining forces in one big coalition as a declaration of war against Aku. They all responded and sent messages to each other, agreeing to stand and unite as one. There was no way that they were going to allow their beloved hero and friend be executed by their common worst enemy.

Everyone who responded to the call all gathered at the The Scotsman's home and it was indeed a colossal number of people from all around the world; from the Spartans, the children of the rave and their female DJ who was leading them, the amphibious people of the underwater kingdom, the woolies, the archers, the androids, the talking archaeologist dogs and many, many more.

After they had all assembled together, the leaders of each group formed a committee to discuss their war plan in their all-out attack on Aku's fortress and at which points to attack it from. There were much deliberations and suggestions that were offered as to how they would attack in partnered groups and as divided battalions. After much needed time spent on the war tactic deliberations, everyone began making all of the final preparations with all of their gathered allies for their attack on Aku's fortress.

"This is amazing dad!" The Scotsman's eldest daughter cheered excitedly, "We're almost ready and everyone we sent the call out to all agreed to join us to rescue Jack and bring about Aku's downfall!"

"Aye lad!" The Scotsman agreed happily, "We'll all march to Aku's fortress and beat down the walls to rescue Jack! Then with Jack in our company, we'll beat and crush that Aku baby once and for all!"

"Some may die in this encounter against Aku, dad," the second eldest daughter stated, "Surely everyone knows and understands the danger of this mission."

"We have no use or patience for spineless cowards or ingrates!" The Scotsman sternly declared, "This is Samurai Jack we're talking about! Throughout the years, that man selflessly risked his life countless times for everyone without asking for so much as a penny in return! He more than earned our respect and dignity and we owe it to him to rescue and save him from Aku! If I have to die again to free Jack then so be it!"

"But dad," the eldest daughter pointed out, 'You're already dead. You can't possibly die again."

"All more why I will fight and keep fighting against Aku!" the Scotsman laughed, "Even if it takes fifty more years to beat him!"

* * *

(Two Days Later)

An impressive battalion of Spartans, armed with their swords, spears and shields, made their march towards Aku's fortress with their king leading them. They were two hundred and fifty yards away. With the fortress in view, the Spartan king turned to his loyal soldiers and declared with a loud voice, "OUR COMRADE AND BROTHER IN ARMS, SAMURAI JACK, IS WAITING FOR US! THIS WILL BE THE HISTORIC DAY AKU THE MERCILESS MEETS HIS DEMISE AND THE END OF HIS EMPIRE!" the king turned around and rose his sword high towards the sky and commanded, "FORWARD GO BRAVE SPARTANS!"

The Spartan king and his battalion of Spartans charged forward valiantly with their warrior roars. Aku's army of insect robots and humanoid androids appeared from out of the fortress and rushed at the incoming Spartans. They Spartan king and his battalion met with Aku's forces and did battle with them. The Spartans slashed and stabbed their way through the opposing robotic forces that were coming by the many. Regardless, the Spartans fought with everything they had. This was a war and rescue mission to save the man they dearly regarded of a brother and valiant warrior.

A large army of archers, riding upon the woolies, galloped through the arid terrain as they made their way to Aku's fortress. Both the woolies and the archers riding them had strong eyes that carried courage and determination. They weren't going to allow Aku to have his way any further and kidnapping Jack with the intent to have him executed on television pushed the woolies and the archers to the point to join forces and declare war on Aku and his forces. They knew risks and the dangers presented. But Samurai Jack selfless heroism was their inspiration to fight back and help bring about Aku's downfall.

After a long ride, they finally arrived at the fortress. Taking their positions, the lead archer declared, "MY BROTHERS! TODAY WE DECLARE IN ONE VOICE THAT WE AS A UNITED PEOPLE AND TRIBE WILL NO LONGER STAND FOR AKU'S EVIL AND OPPRESSION! ON THIS DAY, WE TAKE OUR STAND AND FIGHT BACK, IN THE NOBLE NAME OF OUR COMRADE THE SAMURAI!"

The archers and woolies gave loud war cries as they charged forward towards the fortress with courage and unyielding determination for victory. Soon they saw Aku's army of war androids and flying machines coming at them to defend the fortress. That didn't serve to deter the woolies and their riders one bit as they continued their forward charge. Reaching Aku's force, an all-out war broke out and exchange of firing between sides took place. The woolies trampled down on the androids that came their way, crushing them beneath their feet. Their riders fired their many arrows, one after another and brought down more of Aku's robotic minions while gradually making their way closer to the fortress.

Off from a distance in the horizon, a giant ancient samurai mecha was making its way towards the fortress. Manning the mecha were androids whom Jack once helped and saved when he once piloted the samurai mecha years ago against a terrible force. The androids came to return Jack's heroism with their own as they charged forward towards the fortress.

They were ready to give their retort to Aku that they had enough and weren't going stand for his tyranny any further.

"How long until we arrive?" the commanding android asked.

"ETA: Three minutes until our arrival, sir!" the piloting android said.

"Excellent!" the commanding android said, "Full speed ahead! Let's show Aku what we really think of him and rescue Jack from his hands!"

High in the sky were many hundreds large white birds flying through the skies with the children of the rave riding on their backs, armed with laser cannons and laser riffles ready to go to war against Aku and his army. Accompanying them were flying war machines that were being piloted by talking archaeologist dogs ready to take their shot at Aku and his minions. Within minutes they arrived at Aku's fortress began to open fire against it. Not long after, Aku's flying defense force flew from out of the fortress and did battle with their aerial attackers.

It was open war in the skies. But the children of the rave with their female DJ leading them along with the archaeologist dogs allied with them, there were determined to keep fight until they got to Jack and freed him.

On the surface, a huge army of the amphibian people from the water kingdom were charging forward firing their weapons at the opposing robotic forces storming from out of Aku's fortress.

* * *

(Inside Aku's Fortress)

Aku watched from his screen the war that broke out from outside his fortress now under siege.

"These insects dare to believe that their futile efforts to oppose me will grant them their long-desired victory," Aku sneered, "It's quite amusing to watch knowing that they're all going to die before the day is out."

Jack, bruised up and in much pain, looked at Ashi with pleading eyes. Ashi's body though was not her own. Currently it was consumed and under the control and influence of Aku. Currently, Ashi just stood there motionlessly and quietly, seemingly ignoring Jack's pleas to fight Aku's hold on her.

Inside Ashi's mind however, a war and struggle was going on as Ashi was trying to fight for control against the darkness that was trying to completely consume her. The darkness was using memories of her mother's abuse and control of her and the indoctrination of her mother's dark cult ways as a means to weaken Ashi's will to fight back. It was telling Ashi that part of Aku is also a part of her being and implying that she was meant for the darkness.

 **"** _ **You're not your mother! You're not your father! You are your own person! Fight it Ashi! You can beat it from within!"**_

Those were Jack's words to her a few days ago and it kept repeating in her mind over and over and over again.

"Jack!" Ashi said within her mind as she started putting up a stronger fight not to let the darkness completely consumer her.

* * *

(Meanwhile Outside The Fortress)

Chaos was reigning; Aku's fortress was under heavy ground and aerial attack from all sides and angles. Aku's robotic army came charging out of the fortress that was under siege and began going into battle against their attackers. Meanwhile, the Scotsman was leading his daughters riding on large bucks through the air as they caught up with the giant samurai mecha that was now less than a minute away from the fortress.

* * *

(Back inside the Fortress)

Aku continued watching the scenes of the battles that were continuing to take place until he grew tired of them.

"I've had just about enough of these bothersome insects ruining my domain," Aku said, "It's time I, Aku, put these foolish mortals in their places and remind them who's master and that my evil is law!"

Suddenly there was a thunderous quake followed by massive explosions from the ceiling and all of the walls of the fortress. Mountains of burning rubble and debris fell to the ground within the fortress with a large dust cloud that blanketed the vicinity. Aku wasn't harm by the explosions at all as he had more of a look of annoyance. When the dust cloud cleared, Aku looked to see the giant samurai mecha staring down at him. Jack looked at the mecha with widened eyes as he immediately recognized it.

"That ancient samurai giant!" Jack cheered with hope being reinvigorated with his heart.

"HA!" Aku mocked, "A giant war machine built in the likeness of the samurai!"

The mecha grabbed Aku by his horns and slammed him up against the wall. Aku turned immediately turned to Ashi and commanded, "Daughter, kill the Samurai!"

The mecha pulled Aku from off the wall and out of the fortress. Once out of the fortress, it dragged Aku away for a short distance. After that, the mecha slammed Aku down to the arid desert floor. Once Aku was on the ground, the mecha proceeded to stomp down on the dark lord's face fiercely, cracking the ground underneath Aku in the process.

"Aaaaarrrrgggghhhh!" Aku cried from the brutal force of the stomped before changing his shape to a giant black crab and crawling away fast from the mecha's foot stomping on his face. Turning to face the mecha, Aku threatened, "Your attack on will cost you dearly!"

The mecha ignored the threat and retrieved its giant swords from its compartment. Aku changed back to normal and challenged, "Bring it on fools!"

* * *

(Back Inside The Damaged Fortress)

Ashi shaped her right hand into a large blade and prepared to stab Jack straight through his heart. Jack looked at Ashi desperately and pleaded, "Ashi please! Don't do this! Don't let Aku win! Fight against his control and free yourself!"

Ashi didn't verbally respond as she just moved forward closer to him. She pulled her bladed right arm back and readied herself to deliver the finished deathblow.

"Ashi!" Jack pleaded again. Just before Ashi could carry out Aku's orders, she was blasted and thrown from Jack by a spectral energy attack. Jack looked up to see The Scotsman and his daughters galloping down into the fortress towards his direction. Meanwhile, his daughters went to deal with the possessed Ashi who saw that the daughters of The Scotsman were an invading threat that needed to be dealt with.

"Jack!" the Scotsman yelled out happily as he hurried over to Jack, "It's been a very long time lad!"

The Scotsman, using his bagpipe, fired energy blast at the shackles holding Jack up against the wall. Jack fell to the floor. The Scotsman tried to help Jack up but he went right through him.

"Blast!" the Scotsman grumbled, "I forgot I no longer have my body!"

Jack sooner got himself up off the ground before he took a good look at his longtime friend.

"You're…dead," Jack said with a hollow tone filled with disbelief.

"Aye!" the Scotsman confirmed, "It's a long time about that. But never mind that lad! Let me introduce you to my beautiful daughters," after the Scotsman got through identifying and going through all of their names, he said to Jack, "So, pick which one of my daughters you'd like to marry."

Jack replied, "I'm very flattered by your offer but-"

"BUT?!" The Scotsman retorted, "You mean my daughters aren't good enough for you?"

"No, no it's not that!" Jack clarified, "It's that, I met someone already."

"Really lad!?" The Scotsman asked, "Who exactly?"

"Her," Jack replied as he pointed to Ashi who was now engaged in fierce combat with the Scotsman's daughters. A moment later, The Scotsman turned to Jack with a concerned look and replied, "I don't think she's right for you lad."

"Ashi is under Aku's control," Jack revealed, "She's not herself and I must help her break free from the grasp Aku's evil have on her!"

Ashi, seeing that Jack was now freed, turned her arms into tentacles and smacked the Scotsman's daughters away from her before she rushed over to Jack. Seeing Ashi's incoming attack, the Scotsman used his bagpipe to fire a spectral blast her her. But Ashi managed to dodge the attack as she continued her pursue of Jack. Getting close to Jack, Ashi turned her arms into large blades and started slashing at Jack who was pleading to her to fight Aku's control over her as he moved and dodge all of her attacks.

"Ashi!" Jack pleaded, "You must fight Aku's control over you! I know you're stronger than this! Don't let Aku win! You're not his puppet!"

His words seemingly fell on deaf ears as Ashi continued hacking and slashing at him with her razor sharp arms that she turned into pincers. Jack narrowly avoided a horizontal swipe from her right pincer that would have taken his head on clean. Jack moved and pulled back as Ashi rushed at him.

* * *

(Meanwhile)

The giant mecha was still fighting fiercely with Aku. While the mecha took some damages, it was still functional and able to continue fighting as it was delivering hard punches into Aku's face.

"Foolish mortal giant!" Aku roared, "Your attacks on me will accomplish nothing! No mortal weapon can harm me!"

Aku punched the giant away from him and fired an optic laser attack at it. The giant however quickly dodged and deflected the attack towards the skies before engaging Aku in combat again.

* * *

(Inside the Mecha)

"Sir!" the pilot android warned, "We've taken 42% damage, but our power reserves are still holding and our auxiliary reactor power is still on standby!'

"Good!" the commanding android replied, "We'll take everything Aku throws at us and more if it'll give Jack a chance to escape and fight!"

"I only hope we survive to celebrate this!" a cadet android remarked from one of the operating bays.

* * *

(All The While)

Ashi was holding Jack by the throat to the ground, strangling the life out of him.

"Ashi!" Jack pleaded lowly, "Ple…Please remember…You're…Ashi…Remember who you are…Everything we went through together…All the great things you've done…You said that I saved those children that were being mind-controlled. But the truth is that you were the one who save them…not me."

Ashi started having memory flashbacks in regards to what Jack was telling her: from the time he continuously protected and saved her while in that massively giant monster, how he was gentle with ladybugs, her time listening to his stories about the stars' birth, when he explained and show her the truth about Aku, when she fought the abductor and blew up the machine controlling the kidnapped children from the village that was attacked.

"You gave me back hope when I gave up on myself…" Jack explained, "You gave me a reason to live and keep fighting…You battled and overcame the darkness your mother indoctrinated you into…You helped me…You protected and saved me…That's why I value and treasure you with my life and would die for you…I love you Ashi!"

When Ashi heard those words, again she started remembering all of the good she did and the kiss that she and Jack shared together. And after hearing his love confession, it gave her mind a powerful boost to fight and conquer the darkness that tried to swallow and consume her. It was a fierce mental battle but Jack saw that Ashi was listening as her grip around his neck gradually loosen until she completely released him. She stood back up and remained there motionlessly. Jack slowly stood back up and looked at Ashi.

"Ashi?" Jack called out lowly before her structure took on her normal human form with her face and hair being freed of the black Aku-like features. She opened her eyes, and looked at Jack with teary eyes.

"Jack!" Ashi called out happily before running over to him and embracing him tightly. Jack happily hugged Ashi back just as tightly, fully relieved that Ashi conquered the darkness that almost consumed her.

"I'm sorry Jack," Ashi apologized, "I'm so sorry."

"There's no need to apologize," Jack assured, "You're you again, that's all that matters to me."

"Hey lad," the Scotsman interrupted, "I know you and your lady friend are having a moment but we have bigger problems to worry about!"

As soon as that was said, the giant samurai mecha crashed down to the ground with heavy damages. Around the mecha were many injured and wounded allies and fighters along with a mass of scrapped enemy robots and droids. Aku flew back into the fortress to see that Jack was still alive and in Ashi's arms.

"Daughter!" Aku said, "Hurry and kill the samurai! You have him in your grasp now!"

Ashi released Jack from her embrace and turned to Aku with a look of resistance and replied with defiance, "No!"

"No!?" Aku retorted angrily.

"And I'll never kill him!" Ashi added, "And you can't make me!"

"How dare you talk back to your father!" Aku retorted.

"You're not my father!" Ashi said.

"Yes I am!" Aku retorted.

"No you're not!" Ashi countered, "You're a monster who doesn't belong in our world!"

"You insolent child!" Aku growled angrily, "It's true what they say: If you want things done right, you have to do it yourself!"

Aku roared as he extended his arm out to reach out and crush Jack to death. Ashi intercepted and with her newfound powers, she blocked Aku with elongated arms of her own.

"WHAT!?" Aku shouted in disbelief. Pulling his arms back, he fired his red optic laser beams from his eyes straight at Ashi. Ashi retorted by firing optic laser beams from her eyes directly into Aku's laser beams, triggering a tug-of-war between them as they struggled for supremacy. A moment later, the opposing laser beams triggered an explosion to occur, resulting in a stalemate between Ashi and Aku

"Ashi!" Jack said in amazement, "You have Aku's powers!"

"I know!" Ashi replied, "Jack!" Ashi suggested, "I'll hold Aku off! Go retrieve your sword!"

Jack nodded and hurried to where his sword was being held. Aku rushed to stop Jack, but Ashi jumped and changed her two arms into tentacles before wrapping them around Aku, holding him back.

"Not so fast Aku!" Ashi replied as Aku struggled to break free from Ashi's hold on him. All the while, Jack ran as fast as he could to get to his sword while avoiding all of the falling burning debris. After a few close calls with the falling debris, Jack reached the wall carrying his sword. Jack jumped and climbed the wall holding his sword and quickly stretched out his right hand to reach for it.

"Got it!" Jack shouted triumphantly as he grabbed and pulled the sword from off the wall. He jumped off the wall and leaped away just moments before flying debris came flying at him from Aku who threw it at him.

"Curse you samurai!" Aku roared as he managed to break from Ashi and push her off him. Aku made an attempt to rush at Jack but Ashi ran as fast as she could and reached Jack first. Taking a hold of him, Ashi opened her mouth and shrieked white rings out of her mouth and guided them to encircle both herself and Jack together. After doing that, both Ashi and Jack vanished in a flash of white light.

Upon seeing what happened…

"Oh no…," Aku said fearfully as he realized what Jack and Ashi were about to do…

* * *

(In The Time Portal)

Jack was holding Ashi's hand as they fell and travel through the time portal together.

 _'This is it!'_ Jack thought happily, _'I'm truly going back in time to destroy Aku once and for all!'_

"We're almost there Jack! Get ready!" Ashi said as they were coming to the end of the line. Soon the opening of the time portal appeared, and Jack and Ashi dropped right through it.

"WHAT!?" Aku panicked in disbelief, "YOU'RE BACK ALREADY!?"

Jack didn't give the younger and weakened Aku a response as he charged at him and slashed him.

"AAaaaaaarrrgggghhhh!" Aku screamed in tremendous pain after feeling a part of him disintegrate. In a panic, Aku leaped down to another platform in an effort to escape from Jack. However, Jack went in pursuit of Aku and jumped down to the platform where Aku was and took another slash at Aku, breaking and disintegrating another part of him. Aku screamed again while again trying to make his escape as he didn't have enough strength or power to fight back.

"This can't be possible!" Aku roared out in fear and disbelief as Jack continued hacking and slashing at him with his sword. Soon, there was just half a head of Aku that was left after all of the other parts were destroyed. Desperately, Aku again tried to make a quick run for it with Jack hot on his trail.

"I need time to heal and regenerate back to full strength!" the heavily weakened Aku cried out, "I have to get away from here!"

"Your evil and reign of terror ends now Aku!" Jack declared at his leaped into the air and soared down towards with the blade of his sword aimed directly at Aku's remaining head. Everything seemed to have slowed down as Aku saw that his demise was fast approaching. Suddenly he felt the piercing pain of Jack's sword plunge through his head and seconds later Aku got magnetically pulled onto Jack's sword. Raising his sword up, Jack declared, "This is the end for you Aku!"

Jack then plunged and stabbed the blade his sword down through the ground. This resulted in an explosive chain reaction as Aku's remaining essence got pulled into the explosions from Jack's sword. The explosions triggered Aku's fortress to begin its collapse and complete destruction.

"C'mon!" Jack warned Ashi, "We must leave here now!"

Ashi nodded as they began their escaped from the exploding fortress. Jack and Ashi ran and evaded the falling and burning debris that were collapsing all around them. Soon, the pair found themselves outside of the fortress before it completely collapsed and exploded.

Once they were a safe distance, Ashi fell to her knees, appearing like to she was catching her breath. Jack knelt down next to her as he placed his hands on her shoulders, holding her up to support her.

"Ashi?" Jack asked with concerned, "Are you alright?"

"I don't…I-" Ashi struggled to speak as she felt life draining from her, "I don't feel so good."

"Ashi?" Jack asked worriedly as he turned and held Ashi in his arms, "What's the matter?"

Soon Jack noticed that Aski started vanishing from his arms.

"What's wrong?! Ashi, what's happening to you!?" Jack panicked.

"Aku is gone…," Ashi said weakly, "Killed in this timeline…Meaning…I never existed. Aku was the reason…why I existed…"

"NO!" a heartbroken Jack cried as tears built up and poured down his face, "You can't leave me now! We were to have a future together! You were the only woman I ever loved Ashi! You can't leave!"

"Ja-Jack…" Ashi said with her voice growing hollow, "I lo-ve you…too."

Ashi vanished from Jack's arms before Jack fell to his hands and knees and wept bitterly.

"ASHI!" Jack wept loudly seeing that the woman he love was gone forever, "THIS ISN'T FAIR! I DEFEATED AKU ONLY TO LOSE THE WOMAN I LOVE IN THE PROCESS! THIS ISN'T FAIR! ASHI!"

During Jack's weeping, something unexpected started happening: Jack himself started vanishing. Jack looked to see this phenomenon happening to him as he had a most perplexed look on his face.

"What is this!?" Jack asked aloud, "What's happening?!"

A most familiar dark figure started reforming in front of Jack. Jack slowly looked up and to both his horror and disbelief, his eyes widened to see Aku reforming and regenerating back to normal. The once destroyed fortress was also returning back to normal as though no type of damage or harm came upon it.

"NO!" Jack screamed while he continued disappearing, "THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! I KILLED YOU!"

Aku wordlessly continued being reformed along with his fortress.

"I traveled back to the past from the future to kill you!" Jack cried, "How could my noble efforts only meet with failure!? HOW COULD THIS BE!?"

Jack felt himself slowly vanishing and being pulled away from the timeline he was in. Aku was fully reformed along with his fortress before everything went white.

* * *

(Unknown Location)

"Jack!" a deep voice called out, "Jack!" the voice called out again, "Jack!"

Jack opened his eyes slowly to see that he was no longer in the human realm. Standing before him were Ra, Odin and Vishnu.

"Jack," Odin started off, "While it's noble that you seek to destroy Aku which is the purpose you were chosen for, you went about this completely the wrong way."

"How?!" Jack said, "I fail to understand this! I went back to the past and destroyed Aku! It's been my mission and goal for all this years to return to the past to vanquish Aku from there and rid world of his evil and reunite with my family and people!" Jack hung his head low in defeated and grief, "But my efforts, my goals…my success in travel back in time because of Ashi's help, they were all for nothing! Aku still managed to survive and carry out his reign of evil and terror upon the world! It was for nothing!"

"Jack your efforts failed because you sort the most illogical method in your quest and hopes to defeat Aku," Ra said, "Time traveling to the past was never the answer because time is not something any mortal should ever attempt to tamper with. That was why I refused to answer your question about knowing of any time portals years ago."

"Time was meant and created to flow in only one direction: Forward!" Vishnu spoke up, "It was never purposed to be used or exploited by any mortal to alter one's past or the past of another person in whatever way they thought was right!"

"Throughout the centuries many around different parts of the world have made and opened time portals in their quests for power," Odin explained, "To prevent such disastrous exploitations of the timeline and history, those time portals were protected by those we entrusted, like the Guardian who bested and defeated you in combat years ago."

"Jack," Vishnu said, "Let us explain in clearer details why killing Aku in the past didn't work as you had hoped it would."

"A time paradox went into effect as a result of you and Ashi tampering with the past," Ra revealed.

"A time paradox?" Jack asked with a confused expression.

"A contradiction in the flow of time and history," Odin clarified, "I'll explain: Because you as Jack from the future killed Aku in the past as a result of Ashi traveling to the past with you, Ashi disappeared soon after because her father Aku from the past was gone, meaning she never come into existence. The time paradox here is that if Ashi never existed because Aku was killed in the past by you as Jack from the future, then you couldn't have gone back in time because Ashi never existed for you to meet her and send you back to the past with her in the first place. That resulted in the historical flow of time correcting itself."

"Aku from the past timeline was completely revived with you as Jack from future being removed and pulled out of that timeline," Vishnu interjected, "In other words, the past corrected itself and removed the time paradox; meaning that your time traveling to the past never happened nor was it ever meant to happen."

This was a heavy, overwhelming load for Jack to hear and listen to. It was a colossal blow for Jack to discover that he wasted so many years of his life in vain pursuing a mission to travel to the past to defeat Aku from there. Tears began flowing down Jack's face as he started crying loudly when the weight of the truth sank in deep.

"I failed!" Jack cried, "I failed everyone horribly: my family, my people, all of my teachers and friends! I forever lost Ashi, the woman I loved. It was all for nothing! I failed!"

"Don't speak such foolish nonsense Jack!" Ra sternly rebuked, "You just went about fulfilling your mission the wrong way, but you didn't fail!"

"Aku still can be defeated once and for all," Odin assured, "But not through time traveling to the past! Aku can only be defeated properly through the present time."

"Plus, you didn't fail anyone," Vishnu interjected, "The loss of your family, teachers and friends from the past was no fault on your part, tragic as it was. They knew Aku removed you from their timeline and hurled you into the future since Aku himself bragged about it. But they had hope that in the future Aku would be defeat by your hands, they just knew it would not happen during their lifetime. Even in death, they knew you would one day return and liberate everyone from Aku's oppression as the chosen one."

"Though it's sad that you lost your family, friends and teachers from the past," Ra spoke up, "Your obsession and dwelling so heavily on past for all these years of your life have blinded you to all of the blessings you had in the future."

"What?" Jack replied in confusion.

"You're so obsessed and caught up dwelling and living for the past that you blinded yourself completely from seeing all of the new friends, allies and teachers from the future whom you met who, like you, oppose Aku," Ra explained.

Jack was made to see visions of everyone he ever met and helped during his many years and adventures in the future: from the Scotsman and his daughters, the woolies, the 300 Spartans, the arches, the androids with the giant mecha, the sea people of the underwater kingdom, the salamanders who helped him purge the Aku illness he was once infected with, the archaeologist dogs, the rave children, and so many more faces and people and national groups.

"These people have great regard for you samurai," Odin stated, "They not only see you as their hero, but as their greatest inspiration, their savior whom they love deeply and dearly."

Lastly, Jack saw Ashi's smiling face.

"You even found a woman from that timeline who loves you with her whole heart and soul," Ra pointed out, "Ashi and all these people love you Jack, and are willing to fight and die for you. They're risking everything for you because you inspired them to fight against Aku and bring about his ultimate destruction in their timeline. Do you honestly think you failed these selfless, noble people who are willing to go through such lengths for you?"

"But the fact of the matter is that you love the past more than you love these people," Vishnu stated with disapproval, "Whom you saved and inspired. Do their existence and the fact that they love you to this extent mean so little to you to point that you'd rather attempt to reset the past in your image and erase their existence just to satisfy your own goals and ambitions?"

That revelation hit Jack like a ton bricks as he honestly never once took that thought into consideration. When he thought about it, he felt both disgusted and ashamed of his actions and the number of years he wasted on a dream that would have surely erased their existence.

"I've made so many mistakes in my quest to defeat Aku," Jack humbly confessed as he hung his head low in shame, "It's only now I realize that Aku was right in that I'm a foolish samurai."

"You're only foolish if you never humbly acknowledge and admit your mistakes," Odin stated, "But there is still hope to defeat Aku, but you must do it the right way, with the help of all of your friends and allies and the woman you love."

Jack wiped away his tears and took several deep breaths to calm himself down. He took several moments to allow everything he heard to sink in and readjust his thinking on matters.

"As hard as it was for me," Jack said aloud, "I have to accept that I can never go back to the past; I'll never physically see my parents and friends and teachers from my past timeline ever again. The logic of time will never allow for it."

After a brief pause in his speech, Jack continued, "But these loved ones of mine will forever live on in my heart. It's a bittersweet truth I have to accept and live with. Despite this, I have new friends and teachers from the future. I have Ashi whom I can start a new family with! Together with them, I will bring about Aku's destruction so that the memories of my ancestors, family, friends and teachers from the past can finally have true peace! I will give Ashi and all of my new friends a future they deserve and bring about Aku's ultimate destruction once and for all!"

Ra, Odia and Vishnu said in unison, "THEN GO! THEY'RE WAITING FOR YOU TO LEAD THEM TO VICTORY, SAMURAI!"

There was a brilliant flash of white light and Jack found himself gone from their sight.

* * *

 **Jack is going back to the future to fight Aku in his final showdown! Find out what happens next chapter coming soon.**


	2. Chapter Two: Samurai Showdown

**Chapter Two: Samurai Showdown**

* * *

(Present Day)

The Spartans, the children of the rave, the archers and the woolies and many others were still warring with Aku's robotic forces outside around the surrounding region of the fortress on both land and in the air. There were some that got wounded from the battled. A number of them serious and others critically. Those wounded were brought to safety while their friends did everything they could to tend to their injuries and provide whatever medical aid they could.

But there was no turning back now, they knew that Aku would hunt them down and kill them for their actions. But Jack never all the possibility of death to ever stop him from defying Aku to his face. He fought and battled against Aku and gave them all reasons to stand up and fight back against Aku's malicious tyranny.

"We're several men down!" one of the Spartans stated, "And these cursed machines are bent on fighting and resisting us!"

"Then let me provide you all with some cover fire!" A hardened voice declared as he started firing rounds after rounds of laser ammunition from his gatling gun. The Spartan king and his men and allies looked to see a man in his early 50s having long brown hair in a braided ponytail dressed in black pants, boots and robes geared with samurai armor with a long naginata strapped to his back. He was destroying as many of the robots coming at them as he could with precision and zeal.

"Who are you?" the Spartan King inquired.

"Someone who owes Jack his life," the stranger replied, "I was a baby when I first might Jack and after my time with him, I achieved the spirit of the samurai which became the alias I'm known by."

"That being?" the Spartan King asked.

"Sakai," the stranger revealed as he continued ravaging the android forces against them.

"Well Sakai," the Spartan King stated, "An ally of Jack is an ally of the Spartans."

"I'll fight as many as I can while your soldiers help those who are hurt!" Sakai offered, "I already assisted the others!"

The Spartan King gave the order to his soldiers to help those who were wounded while the rest of his men stayed to provided protection and cover fire.

* * *

(Meanwhile)

Jack found himself back in Aku's fortress with Ashi standing next to him after he had gotten back his sword. Just as Ashi was about to open her mouth and release the time rings from out of her mouth to open a time portal…

"Ashi!" Jack called out, stopping her from doing what she was about to do, "I have a plan and a way to put your new powers to use."

"What plan is that?" Ashi asked.

"Can you shapeshift like Aku?" Jack asked.

"I'm certain I can," Ashi assured, "But why resort to that? I know of another way we can defeat Aku."

"If you're thinking about time traveling to the past then reject that idea!" Jack disagreed, "Time traveling to the past is not the answer! We must stand our ground and defeat Aku here, in the present!"

"But you always dreamed about going back to your time and defeating Aku then!" Ashi reminded, "You dreamed of reuniting with your family and people!"

"Yes, I did," Jack admitted, "It was always something I dreamed about for many years. But…realistically, it's something that can never truly be attained. I accept that now."

"Soooooo!" Aku bellowed with a triumphant tone, "You've finally come to accept that going back to the past is a dream that will never happened since I destroyed all of the time portals!"

"You destroying the time portals have nothing to do with why I'm choosing to accept to stay in the present and not go back to the past anymore!" Jack retorted.

"Why are you choosing now to give up your dreams of going back to your home timeline?" Ashi asked with a perplexed expression, "Aku isn't the only person who can open and use time portals."

"WHAT?!" Aku shouted when it dawned on him that Ashi had more than just his powers.

"I can open a time portal to the past and bring you back to your home timeline," Ashi said,

"Don't attempt it!" Jack objected, "Nothing good will come of it! There's nothing in the past to go back to!"

Now even Aku was interested in what he was hearing.

"Am I hearing this right!?" Aku asked loudly in disbelief, "The samurai doesn't want to go back to the past anymore, even when he's presented with the opportunity to do so? Even I find this hard to believe."

"Why the sudden change now in your life's goal now?" Ashi implored, "You spent years looking for a way to go back and now you don't want to anymore?! I don't understand your reasons for not wanting to return to the past anymore!"

"Because I was so blinded by my obsession with the past and only saw the bad in this present timeline," Jack explained, "I didn't look for the good that still exist. I only thought about myself and what I wanted, not what anyone else wanted. I completely failed to see the good that still exist here in this current timeline and drowned myself in my own anger, self-pity and loneliness."

Ashi remained quiet as she listened to Jack's words.

"All these brave and noble people around the world risked their lives to come here and fight against Aku and his empire to save me and help me bring about his downfall," Jack pointed out, "They joined forces because I inspired them to break the chains of Aku's tyranny. They helped me save you, Ashi.

"I cannot dishonor their valiant heroism and self-sacrifice by deserting them for another timeline and attempting to erase their lives in this timeline and everything they've done today."

"Changing the past by removing Aku from the equation to give them a better future wouldn't dishonor them!" Ashi insisted, "You'd be doing them a great service!"

"No Ashi, I would not!" Jack countered, "And even if I succeeded in going back to the past and killing Aku then, nothing would change! The future would not change! Aku would still exist in this timeline!"

Ashi was shocked on hearing this as she didn't expect to hear that from Jack. Even Aku was surprised by what he heard from Jack, especially after he heard Jack's last three sentences which served to intrigue him.

"Did I hear that right!?" Aku laughed loudly in disbelief, "The samurai doesn't want to go back to the past anymore because it wouldn't change the future that is Aku? I never thought in all my existence that I'd hear such beautiful words! I'm almost moved to tears!"

"Jack," Ashi replied, "We won't know that unless we try! Why are you giving up your dreams to go back to your timeline? To your family? To your people? Your friends!"

"Ashi, don't you understand?" Jack explained, "You're Aku's daughter! If I go back and kill Aku in the past before you're born, then you'll never exist!"

Ashi gasped as that revelation struck her. In all honestly, she never took what would happen to her into consideration.

"I…," Ashi realized, "I never thought about that. I'd be forever erase from history."

"But that's not all," Jack continued, grabbing Ashi's attention, "In the process, that will mean that going back to the past never happened because you never existed to send me back. That will mean that I never went back and killed Aku in the past, returning the original historical timeline back to when and where we are now. That's why you sending me back to the past will never work. It would be an unending cycle of failures."

Ashi couldn't believe how logic and reality completely nullified any reasons for her to go back in time to the past with Jack to kill Aku. No matter how much she tried to get around it, Ashi saw that in the end nothing would work and she would ultimately never exist as a result before the timeline rebooted and corrected itself.

"Even if I were to find and use another time portal that Aku didn't destroy," Jack explained, "The future still would not change. That's because the various circumstances that gave me the ability to find a time portal wouldn't exist, canceling any reasons for me to go back to the past and undoing my actions. That's why traveling to go back to the past will never work because the past can never be changed."

Ashi allowed everything Jack explained to her to sink in. Even Aku was intrigued by Jack's words.

"WOW!" Aku laughed, "Oh, the wasted years! All this time I feared what would happened if the samurai went back in time to kill me! I can't believe I carried that fear of your possible time traveling to the past for nothing! Had I known everything you explained here just now in advance, I'd have happily allowed to you suffer for eternity jumping through time portals again and again in your futile attempts to change the unchangeable past!"

"While the past is gone and unchangeable," Jack retorted to Aku, "That doesn't mean we can't stop you now in the present and shape the unwritten future, which has more possibilities and hopes than the past!"

"I already know the future and I can see that you won't be in it samurai!" Aku stated darkly.

"None of us here will let that happen Aku!" Ashi replied. Aku looked over at Ashi and retorted, "I don't have either the time or patience for a family dispute with you!"

"You don't have time at all because your time in this world is up!" Ashi stated in defiance.

"To think that I made the effort to acknowledge you as my daughter!" Aku spat in disgust, "Your defiance will not go unpunished!" Aku declared before his eyes flashed white.

"AAaaaaaaauuuuuhhhh!" Ashi screamed in pain as she felt like something was being suppressed within her body.

"ASHI!" Jack panicked as he went over to her. But he and the others saw what was happening to Ashi:

The black coating encasing Ashi's body disappeared off her, returning her body back to her original appearance.

"What the!?" Ashi said when she saw and realized what happened, "My powers are gone!"

"What!?" Jack exclaimed, "All of it!"

"Aku neutralized and deactivated my powers!" Ashi confirmed.

"Seriously!" Aku remarked, "Did you honestly think I'd let you continue to defy and attack me with my own powers? You're still half human! I awoke and activated your powers, and I can deactivate them just the same! Know your place!"

Aku turned his fingers in his right hand into blades and elongated them swiftly as he moved to stab and kill Ashi.

"ASHI!" Jack yelled while thinking and acting fast. Jack rushed over to Ashi and tackled her away just moment before Aku's elongated bladed fingers could get to her as they plunged to the ground. Getting back up fast, Jack helped Ashi to her feet as Aku was now in pursuit of them. The Scotsman blew into his bagpipe and fired energy waves at Aku, causing Aku to scream as he felt himself being pushed back and becoming distorted. While Aku was disoriented, the Scotsman said to Jack, "I'll hold him off as long as I can until you and Ashi rebound and come up with a way to defeat this menace!"

"Thank you!" Jack thanked as he and Ashi ran as fast as they could to a large opening in the wall leading to outside the fortress. Upon their arrival, Jack and Ashi saw the all-out war that was happening between Aku's forces and all of those who came to Jack's aid.

"I had no idea you inspired such a massive number of people in all the time you've been here!" Ashi marveled.

"All the more reason why I can't possibly desert them for my own self-centered dreams!" Jack stated before Aku's previous words replayed again in Jack's mind:

" _I awoke and activated your powers, and I can deactivate them just the same!"_

That's when Jack came to realized something…

"Ashi!" Jack said, "There's a chance that you can still tap into and reactivate your powers!"

Ashi turned to Jack in wonder and asked, "What? How would that even be possible? Aku took away my powers!"

"No," Jack pointed out, "Aku said that he awoke and activated your powers, and later deactivated them. He never said he stripped you of your powers. Your powers were always inside you Ashi. They're part of you; they were just lying dormant this entire time. You have to use your own mind and willpower to access them yourself, the same way I got back my sword when I first lost it."

"I understand," Ashi said.

"Jack!" a voice called out from behind them. Jack and Ashi looked behind them to see the Scotsman and his daughter hurrying out of the fortress on their bucks with the Scotsman leading them.

"Scotsman!" Jack called out, "Ashi and I need a way out of this fortress!"

"Not a problem lad!" the Scotsman said as he instructed his daughters to grabbed Jack and Ashi. The pair board two of bucks along with one of Scotsman's daughters. Using his bagpipe, the Scotsman made a pathway for family and friends to ride down on as they hurried out of the fortress. Soon they were on the ground, and made their way to the Spartan King and his man. Jack and Ashi dismounted from off the bucks and went over to the Spartans.

"Jack!" Sakai and the Spartans cheered happily seeing that their hero was freed and now in their company. Soon, the children of the rave, the archers and the woolies, everyone else regroup with the Scotsman and his daughters and all those already in their company. Soon the wrecked mecha appeared and made a hard landing, but fortunately no one got hurt in the process.

"Mission accomplished!" Scotsman exclaimed happily, "We rescued our comrade Jack from Aku's hold! Well done everyone!"

Sakai went over to Jack and greeted, "Jack, it's been many years since our first adventures together. But I can't believe you still look exactly the same you did fifty years ago! You haven't aged a day!"

"Do I know you?" Jack asked quizzically.

"I'm not surprised you don't remember me Jack," Sakai said, "I was only a baby when we first met and through my time with you, I achieved the spirit of the samurai."

Jack thought briefly for a moment until it finally hit him.

"You're that baby boy I returned to his family who gained those hardened warrior eyes of the samurai!" Jack realized, "I can't it's been this long! You've…aged."

"Don't rub it in just because you haven't aged a day for reason beyond what we can understand!" Sakai said, "Anyway, people now just call me Sakai! I've been fighting against Aku's reign since the time I learned to fight and defend myself. I came here as soon as I learn that Aku was planning to kill you. There was no way I could live with myself if I had stayed away and did nothing to help save you."

"I owe you and everyone here my thanks," Jack said before turned to everyone else, "I truly appreciate the valiant heroism everyone has made in your successful to rescue from would have been certain death. Your selfless actions also helped me save Ashi. Truly I don't deserve to have such loyal friends."

"Don't think that way samurai!" one of the archers said, "Time and again, you've selfless place your needs and desires aside to help and save all of us. We've all been indebted and grateful to you for all these years and we never forgot your nobles which have always served to inspire us."

"I was blinded by my lone quest to return to the past," Jack confessed, "Believing that was the answer to everything as I walked my path alone But I was wrong entire time. All of you here made me see and realize that standing my ground with all of you against Aku is the answer, in order to fix the present and make way for better future."

"The future I see for all of you is that of the grave!" Aku roared as he flew out of the fortress and over to them. Jack and the others turned to face Aku. Jack pulled out his sword and aimed it at Aku as he declared, "This will be our final fight Aku! After today, only one of us will walk out of this alive!"

"I couldn't agree more samurai!" Aku replied. Jack turned to Ashi and requested, "Ashi, stay here with the others and try to access and reactivate your powers! Scotsman, I'll need one of your daughter's bucks and your powers to provide me cover fire and protection! Spartans, I'll need one of your shields."

"I understand," Ashi complied.

"Consider it done lad!" the Scotsman agreed.

"You have our support!" the Spartan king replied. Jack went and straddled one of the large bucks with his sword in hand. The Spartan king went and handed Jack his shield.

"My grandfather told my people and I the story of how he and his men battled alongside you to protect his kingdom and people," the Spartan king said, "All of us here are honored that we have the privilege of helping you vanquish Aku from our world once and for all."

"No," Jack said and smiled, "I'm the one who should be honored for having such greats friends and comrades."

"It's time Jack," The Scotsman said before he started playing into his bagpipe and surround the buck's feet with swirling energy, allowing it to levitate off the ground. Ready to fight, Jack rode off into Aku's direction with the Scotsman following for a distance to provided assistance and to keep Jack and the buck afloat in the air.

Aku shaped shifted himself into a serpentine giant dragon and flew into Jack's direction.

"Time to die, samurai!" Aku declared as he soared towards Jack. Having him in range, Aku fired two white energy beams from his eyes at Jack. The samurai however deflected the beam attacks with his sword, and redirecting it to the ground. Angered that his attacked was blocked, Aku continued his pursue and flew after Jack who continued galloping away on the buck through the air. Turning swiftly, Jack narrowly evaded bitten in half by Aku as he swung and made a large slash at Aku on the side of his enemy's right shoulder.

"Aaaaarrrggghhhh!" Aku screamed in pain after feeling the blade of Jack's sword wound him and throw him off balance. Seeing another opportunity to wound Aku further, Jack hurried and hacked at Aku's rib cage. Aku screamed again as he flew and backed off from Jack. But his pain and wounds caused Aku to unintentionally crashed down to the ground and into a large pile of debris, which turned out to be the remains of his robotic forces. Jack moved in from the air and galloped downs towards Aku in his effort to hack him to pieces.

Aku, after pulling himself together, shapeshifted into a huge octopus and grabbed the remains of his robots with his tentacles. Aiming at Jack, Aku begin hurling the scrap robot parts at Jack as flying projectiles. Jack gasped and quickly changed course as the debris came flying in at him. Aku kept this up in throwing large robotic scrap at Jack hoping one of the debris would strike and injure Jack, in not mortally wound him.

"You can't keep this up for long samurai!" Aku yelled as he watched jack ride around the debris being thrown at him. Jack was having a difficult time trying to get close to Aku. Multiple times he used his shield to block the smaller metallic rubble from harming him while riding and avoiding being hit by the larger metallic scraps.

"I have to find a way to get closer to Aku!" Jack said to himself. Soon an idea came to mind…

"Scotsman!" Jack requested, "Is it possible to be provided with a barrier?"

"I got you covered!" the Scotsman said and he played a different tune for Jack who landed down on the ground with the buck galloping towards Aku. A spherical force field appeared and surrounded Jack and the buck just as Aku hurled more debris into their direction. The force field served to deflect the attacks and protect both Jack the buck, allowing them to get closer to Aku.

"What!?" Aku bellowed after seeing how the debris thrown at Jack were being deflected allowing Jack to gallop into his direction. Seeing this, Aku shapeshifted again, and changed into a giant scorpion. Swinging his tail, Aku elongated it in an attempt to attack and stab Jack directly. Jack managed to gallop around and dodge the attack at the last second as Aku's stinger struck the ground. Growling that he missed, Aku ran forward towards Jack and aimed to grab him with his pincers.

"I'll peal you alive samurai!" Aku roared as he lashed at Jack with his twin pincers. Jack used his sword to defend himself as the dark lord made several attempts to grab and catch Jack alive. The buck Jack was riding on quickly moved backwards as Aku's stinger came at them again as it plunged deep into the ground.

"That was way too close!" Jack remarked as he watched Aku pull his stinger out from the ground.

"Yet still not close enough!" Aku retorted as he changed shape again, this time he changed into a giant worm monster. Aku then plunged and tunneled his way through the ground as alarming speed towards Jack's direction. Jack had the buck turn around and gallop as fast as it could while Aku was again in pursuit. A large lump of gravel from the ground was seen chasing after Jack and the buck, indicating that it was Aku tunneling through the ground.

Aku suddenly launched himself from out of the ground into the air as he attempted to attack Jack by colliding into the ground on top of him. Jack narrowly escaped as he changed directions and went to the left allowing Aku to plunged back into the ground and out of sight. The hard impact briefly threw Jack and the buck of balance but they managed to keep themselves from falling to the ground.

 **"Though all of your friends will suffer slowly,"** Aku stated darkly before he went in pursuit of Jack again, only this time he was collapsing the ground around Jack like one giant black sinkhole as he chased after his hated enemy, **"I'll grant you a quick death!"**

Seeing the danger coming at him, Jack rode off as fast as the buck could run.

"You're only delaying your inevitable demise, samurai!" Aku shouted, "Grant me the pleasure of uniting you with your fallen ancestors!"

The sinkhole was gaining speed and catching up to Jack fast. Jack was tempted to look back to see how close Aku was gaining on him. But he refrained from doing so, knowing that being distracted for even a moment could prove disastrous.

"Faster!" Jack said urgently, "Faster! Please go faster!"

Seeing the danger Jack was in, the Scotsman flew in close to Jack and played into his bagpipe, forming a pathway for the buck to gallop upon moments before the ground underneath them caved in. Jack rode to safety above the opened sinkhole as the Scotsman was leading them to solid ground.

"Thank you my good friend!" Jack thanked.

"The pleasure is all mine!" the Scotsman said, "Can't have you dying before Aku does!"

Jack rode down to the surface on solid ground. After being brought to safety, Jack turned to see the wide-open sinkhole Aku made in his effort to kill him. From out of the sinkhole crater came huge eight-legged crab monster that Aku changed into. Smiling darkly, Aku raced into Jack's direction in an attempt to used his body to crush both Jack and the buck he was riding on. Jack stopped the buck and swiftly changed course just before Aku slammed his body to the ground, cratering it in the process as he failed to crushed his hated enemy into the arid ground. Aku ran and went after Jack who was now looking to made some distance between himself and Aku.

"I'm going to smear you into the ground, samurai!" Aku yelled, "And as I do, I'll have your friends watch in despair as I bathe and soak myself in your blood!"

"Don't you ever shut up Aku!?" Jack retorted as he turned and galloped back towards attack to meet Aku in combat. Seeing Jack come his way, Aku started using his bladed legs and weapons against Jack. Jack using his shield to block some of Aku's attacks while using his sword to attack and inflict injuries on him. This pattern continued until Aku finally managed to find an opening and smack Jack off his buck and onto the ground. Jack, while still having his sword and shield in hand, quickly rose back to his feet as Aku ran after him. Aku leaped high into the air and then burst into thousands of raining arrows. Jack readied his shield to block as many of the arrows as he could. The Scotsmon acts fast and provided a barrier for the buck and saw as he was about to make one for Jack, a body of shields come and completely shielded and protected Jack from any harm as the black spears came raining down onto the ground.

"What is this?" Jack asked in confusion as he was surrounded by darkness.

"It's the woman you love that's protecting you," Ashi replied in the darkness.

"Ashi?" Jack replied before a crevice of light opened up through the darkness surrounding Jack. The said darkness turned out indeed to be Ashi who was using her stretched out body to cover and protect with the Spartans' shield being held onto her body. Ashi reshaped herself back to her original form as her body drop the shields off her back. Jack saw that Ashi was back in her black outfitted appearance.

"Ashi you did it!" Jack cheered, "You managed to get your powers back!"

"WHAT!?" Aku voice bellowed as all of the thousands of arrows made from his body flew back and regrouped as they molded back into Aku's true form, "Impossible! I deactivated your powers!"

"While that's true," Ashi said, "But my love for Jack and strong will helped me to conquer and subdue my inborn darkness and tap in and reactivate what's mine by birthright," Ashi retorted, "You have no control over me anymore Aku!"

"You've proven to be a more than a problem like the samurai!" Aku stated murderously, "When I'm through, both you and your samurai lover will beg me to allow you die!"

"Your choices have clearly led you here, as have ours!" Ashi declared.

"But we will give you no new choices as you face your destiny!" Jack stated, "And your destiny is eternal death!"

Aku snarled venomously, "Your father and mother and the rest of your ancestors are waiting for you! I'll grant your release from this world brutally and allow you to join them in death!"

At that Aku gathered all of his powers together. With it, he grew and changed into a massive, colossal sized serpentine eight-headed hydra monster. Aku gave a thunderous roar that was enough to even frighten all of Jack's allies who were watching the earlier battle between him and Aku.

The androids that were piloting the samurai mecha, were outside the machine and watching the scene alongside the others.

"This was unexpected!" the commanding android commented. Aku turned to the Samurai mecha and thrusted one of its head at it. Everyone ran as Aku grabbed the mecha by its left leg with his mouth and used his other heads to grabbed the right leg, arms and head of the mecha. While holding it up in the air, in one go, Aku pulled and tore off all of the limbs and head of the mecha with its body falling to the ground in front of him. As soon as the headless and limbless body hit the ground, Aku used his monstrous right hand to crush it completely.

"Aku destroyed our battle machine like it was nothing!" the commanding android exclaimed.

"Things have escalated beyond our ability to take!" the archaeologist dog remarked.

"You think!?" Sakai replied.

"Aku is really going for blood now!" the Scotsman said.

"Yeah!" the Scotsman eldest daughter agreed, "All of ours and Jack's too!"

* * *

Back on the battlefield…

"Oh my…," Jack remarked as he saw the hugest monstrosity that Aku had ever transformed into, "This is worse than the battle I had with Aku in the graveyard years ago and I barely escaped from that battle as Aku nearly killed me!"

Jack was no fool. He knew that with the form that Aku changed into, there was no way he would survive his battle with the dark lord. Even with his sword, Jack knew he would surely die. Ashi stood beside Jack and looked at the creature that her mother and former cult worshiped.

"I can't believe that…thing is related to me!" Ashi remarked with abhorrence as she started thinking up of a plan to help Jack to defeat Aku. She had to think up of one fast as some possible doable ideas ran through her mind. Aku turned Jack and declared, "This will be our final decisive battle samurai! There will be no next time!" Aku the stated darkly, **"It's Victory or Death!"**

Jack held onto his sword tightly, and accepted, "If I have to die to stop you once and for all Aku then so be it! I'll happily lay down my life if it meanings freeing this world and everyone living on it from you and your wicked rule!"

"There may be another way we can stop Aku without you needing to die, Jack!" Ashi interjected. Jack looked at Ashi and asked, "How so?"

Ashi's face and hair started being covered up by her black mask appearance, but without the four horns.

"With my powers," Ashi suggested, "I have an idea about how we can use my time rings to-"

"Ashi!" Jack objected, "We already discussed that time traveling to the past won't work!"

"Jack!" Ashi asked, "I thought this through carefully this time after listening to your explanation and I came up with an idea to put my time rings to effective use. But I need you to trust me and let me help you. Do you trust me with my powers?"

After a moment self-deliberation, Jack agreed and consented, "Yes."

Ashi then went behind Jack and wrapped her arms securely around his chest and her head on the back on his neck. Concentrating, she melted onto his body and morphed herself into the exactly likeness of the full body samurai armor, boots, clothes, gloves and gear Jack used to wear before Ashi, during her dark assassin days, and her late sisters, ambushed Jack and destroyed it. Jack's helmet however was much shorter than the original one but it carried the traditional samurai designs.

"Did Jack and the chick in the black just fuse together?" Sakai asked with a disbelieving expression.

"It would appear to be so!" the archaeologist dog said, "But from what I'm seeing, she transformed into a complete suit of armor for Jack."

"I wish my girlfriend could do that with me," a male child of the rave remarked.

"I'm not Aku's daughter!" a female rave child retorted.

* * *

Back on the battlefield…

"Amazing!" Jack marveled, "When I thought about utilizing your shapeshifting powers, I never thought you had the capacity to do this!"

"In this way Jack," Ashi declared through the armor, "You have a better chance at surviving as we'll fight and defeat Aku as one! Together, we'll bring about his eternal downfall!"

"I couldn't say it better myself Ashi!" Jack agreed, "Though I can't overlook the fact that you're completely wrapped around my body. It's weird, yet feels sensually amazing at the same time! You practically turned into a living suit of armor!"

"I knew you'd love my idea," Ashi remarked, "But let's take care of Aku first and we can have fun with this later!"

Though Jack didn't miss the sexual innuendo in Ashi's comment however, he decided to focus more on the battle at hand.

"Enough talk from both of you!" Aku roared as she lashed out and dived into the smash both of them with his razor-sharp teeth. From out of the back of the armor, a large pair of majestic black feathered wings sprouted and with a mighty flap, Jack flew off the ground into the air just before one of Aku's eight heads bit down on them deep into ground Jack was previously standing on. Aku tore a chunk of the ground off and held it in his mouth. With a mighty thrust, he threw it at Jack who just barely dodged it in mid-air as Ashi helped him fly around it to avoid being struck it.

"I wonder if this was the form Aku used to beat and kill that same guardian of that obelisk time portal that beat me in combat years ago," Jack said aloud.

"If he did," Ashi said, "It's all the more reason why we can't let Aku have his way and win against us!"

Jack hoovered in the air looked as Aku back at him with hate, malice and bloodlust. The samurai looked back at Aku with fierce defiance and iron determination as he readied his sword and prepared to fighting.

"I'm with you Jack," Ashi assured through the armor, "No matter what happens from here on out, I'll stay with you and fight to the end! I'll protect you, even if it means losing my life!"

Jack recalled the memory and pain he felt when Ashi vanished and died in his arms during that time paradox. Not wanting to experience losing Ashi again, Jack stated, "Ashi, I didn't go through all those past troubles and dangers protecting you with my life just so you can die in in my arms in front of me! We'll fight together, win this final battle together and live together, forever!"

"I know your future!" Aku roared, **"YOU BOTH WILL DIE TOGETHER!"**

"BRING IT ON AKU!" Jack challenged before Aku rushed at Jack and Ashi. Jack flew into Aku's direction thus commencing their final showdown, a no holds bar fight to the death…

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 **The final battle between Jack and Aku has begun. How will their final war end?**

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 **A/N: I apologize that my chapters for this fanfic are much shorter than my standard size. But I'm juggling between this new short story fanfic, my new chapters for Sealed Legacy and Digimon 02: Epoch, and three projects outside FFN I must complete by this month into early July. My schedule is hectic but I hope that this chapter still proved to be entertaining.**


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